That’s What Happened 1982-1985: Bootleg Volume 7 is the next installment in the celebrated, award-winning archival series that began in 2011, shining an in-depth light onto different eras of the legendary career of Miles Davis.
In the 1980s, popular music had moved to a smoother, electronic-based sound that traded the steam of previous years for subdued arrangements meant to elicit peace and deep reflection. Miles Davis embraced this era, pulling inspiration from FM radio and an upstart music video channel called MTV. He was searching for the next frontier, letting his creativity roam. This music on The Bootleg Series Vol. 7 captures that exploration, and finds Miles beginning to re-emerge in a creative landscape far different than the one he left in 1975. He’s touched every inch of pop culture while keeping true to his iconoclastic vision of jazz as amorphous art that’s supposed to bend and flow and mutate to something else. On That’s What Happened, we get to play in the rubble of what would become yet another period of unprecedented innovation. Beauty resides in evolution. The set collects nearly 4 hours of unreleased music including 2 CDs of studio material from 1982 to 1985 plus another CD containing a complete, blistering show of one of Miles’ last amazing bands captured live at the Festival International De Jazz De Montreal in July 1983. Side men include a multi-generational who’s who of jazz talent from JJ Johnson, John McLaughlin, Al Foster and John Scofield to Mike Stern, Marcus Miller, Daryl Jones and Vince Wilburn.
The 3CD set includes two discs of previously unreleased studio material–from the Star People, Decoy and You’re Under Arrest sessions–and a third disc showcasing Miles Davis Live in Montreal on July 7, 1983; the collection comes in a slipcase with individual album mini-jackets and a booklet featuring liner notes by Marcus J. Moore and revelatory new interviews with Miles’ 80’s players including Vince Wilburn, Jr. (drummer and bandmate), John Scofield (electric guitarist), Darryl Jones (bassist), Marcus Miller (bassist) and Mike Stern (guitarist).
Eight of the ten tracks on CD 1 are unreleased studio tracks from the sessions that resulted in 1983’s Star People. The second studio album released after Miles’ six-year hiatus from recordings and performing, Star People was the artist’s last to feature the studio wizardry of Miles’ longtime producer Teo Macero. Musicians include J.J. Johnson (trombone), Bill Evans (soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone), Mike Stern (guitar), John Scofield (guitar), Marcus Miller (electric bass), Al Foster (drums) and Mino Cinélu (percussion) with Miles doubling on trumpet and keyboards (without overdubs). CD1’s other two tracks–“Freaky Deaky, Part 1” and “Freaky Deaky, Part 2”–were produced by Miles Davis (trumpet and keyboards) and feature John Scofield (guitar), Darryl Jones (electric bass), Robert Irving III (Linn Drum programming) and Mino Cinélu (percussion). Recorded June 30, 1983 at A&R Studios in New York during the Decoy sessions, this previously unreleased cassette recording comes from the collection of John Scofield.
The second CD contains unreleased studio recordings from the sessions that gave us 1985’s You’re Under Arrest. Produced by Miles Davis and Robert Irving III, You’re Under Arrest reflected Miles’ polarity of passions, from politics to pop music; among its achievements, the album transformed then-contemporary hits like Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time” and Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature” into abiding jazz standards. Musicians include Miles (trumpet), Bob Berg (soprano saxophone), John Scofield (guitar), Robert Irving III (keyboards), Darryl Jones (electric bass), Al Foster (drums), Vince Wilburn, Jr. (drums, drum programming, percussion), Steve Thornton (percussion) and John McLaughlin (guitar on “Katia [full session]”). The previously unreleased recordings in this set were mixed by Steve Berkowitz and Dave Darlington in 2022 at Bass Hit Recording, NYC.
Disc 3 features Miles Davis Live at the Theatre St. Denis in Montreal, Canada on July 7, 1983. The recording showcases one of Miles Davis’ final great bands including John Scofield on guitar, Bill “The Other Bill Evans” Evans on saxophones, flute and electric piano, Darryl Jones on bass, Al Foster on drums and percussionist Mino Cinélu. Miles was back in amazing form (“incandescent and iridescent as ever”) when he mounted the stage at the Theatre St-Denis during the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal in July 1983.
